


Make Your Own Light.

by petit_bleu



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Art, Artist Louis Tomlinson, Broken Harry Styles, Captain Niall Horan, Dark Harry, Domestic Violence, Eleanor Calder Ships Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Emotional Baggage, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Romance, Fluff and Angst, I'm Bad At Tagging, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lesbian Eleanor Calder, M/M, Soft Louis Tomlinson, mild ziam
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-21
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-17 20:42:31
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29598480
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/petit_bleu/pseuds/petit_bleu
Summary: "Great art was born of great terrors, great loneliness, great inhibitions, instabilities, and it always balances them."-Anais NinAU in which Louis is an aspiring artist with a bubbly personality, and Harry, who holds all the talent one can, but is held back by the demons of his past. Can Louis set Harry free from his demons? Or will he only bring them back into the light?(A/N: Please do not post this to any other websites! If you see this story posted anywhere else, please report it immediately.)
Relationships: Harry Styles/Louis Tomlinson, Zayn Malik/Liam Payne
Kudos: 6





	Make Your Own Light.

**Author's Note:**

> enjoy. or don't. ;)

Louis loved absolutely everything about art. I mean, what wasn’t to love? The way the rough brush dipped gently into the soft palate of colours, or the way the white canvass could display so much emotion with only a few strokes of the wet brush. He especially loved the fact that art had no boundaries. You could express yourself in any way you wished.   
So you can imagine how thrilled he was to find out that there was a project coming up in his favorite class. 

When his professor originally presented it, he was over the moon. He imagined himself standing up and skipping through the halls of the school. He got out his notebook and began brainstorming for his project. However, his thoughts were interrupted when he heard that dreadful word come from the professors mouth. He immediately froze in place.

Partners.

And sure, Louis got along with people fine. Perfectly even. He knew when to laugh, when to nod, when to smile when complimented, but the one thing he could not handle was partner work. He worked perfectly fine on his own. He didn’t have to deal with the sharing of ideas, or the “Hey can you paint it and I’ll touch it up after?” conversation. And call him selfish, but he absolutely hated sharing credits. Especially when the work was mostly one sided. 

He spent the rest of the lecture listening to his teacher drag on about how this project will “broaden their perspective”, which Louis thought to be absolute bullshit. 

When the class was over, he quickly rose from the seat and collected his things, already dreading the project. He roamed through the halls, making a straight beeline to the art room. At the beginning of the semester, he asked the art teacher, Mrs. Collins if he could use it during his free period. She reluctantly said yes, seeing as it was always out of use at that time. As he neared the room, he stopped. Something was different. The air was cold. Colder than usual. He assumed Mrs. Collins had just forgotten to close the window before she left. So he disregarded it, and entered anyway. 

When he was approaching his usual canvass, he noticed someone sitting.

In his chair. 

He let out a gasp, which was entirely too soft for his liking. The stranger turned around quickly, making Louis to flinch at the sudden movement and drop his opened bag, causing all of his belongings to spill out. 

“Shit.” he muttered, still looking down at his fallen belongings. He looked up and his eyes immediately widened in shock. He took a good look at the stranger. It was a man, he had smooth, light skin, and long curly hair, reaching his shoulders. But the first thing Louis noticed were his eyes. They were a piercing green. He imagined painting those eyes on a canvas, mixing colours of greens and blues. The man looked drained, and tired, but mostly annoyed. Louis woke from his trance when the stranger cleared his throat. 

Louis blushed in embarrassment, as he’d been caught staring. 

He mumbled a soft “Sorry” before bending down and collecting his materials.

“You’re an artist?” the stranger said, as he'd noticed the array of fallen supplies. His voice was deep, calm, and even. Louis felt like he was going to faint. He turned a darker shade of red at the sudden interest.

“Yeah. Well, studying to be.” he said. He then noticed the canvass behind the stranger. “Are you?” he asked excitedly. He needed more friends who liked art as much as he did. His smile dropped when he noticed the stranger visibly tense.

“No.” the stranger said sharply. Louis jumped in surprise. The mood of the room changed instantly. Light conversation quickly turned into tension as Louis looked up to be met with an icy glare. 

“Oh.. I’m sorry I just thought-” he trailed off, embarrassed. 

“Yeah, well. I’m not. And why exactly are you in here?” he said. His voice was completely different than earlier. It was harsh, cutting through the air like a knife.

“I’m sorry.. I didn’t know anyone would be in here. I come everyday, it’s usually empty. I can leave if you want.” he stuttered. Already turning to leave in shame.

“What’s your name?” the stranger said as Louis neared the door. The stranger wore an amused smirk at Louis’ behavior.

“Louis.” he said nervously. What if he thought his name was weird? What if it was too original? Or too unoriginal? 

“Louis,” the stranger repeated slowly. 

They stood in silence when Louis remembered he was supposed to leave. He blushed and spun around, knocking straight into another body. He glanced up in fear, only to be met with the familiar face of his best friend. He visibly relaxed. 

“Lou, there you are. Niall and I have been looking all over for you.” Zayn said in an amused tone. He then noticed that they weren’t alone in the room. He glanced over Louis’ shoulder and Louis watched the color drain from the boy’s face. 

“Lou we should go back to the dorm, yeah?” he said, looking down to him.

“Oh. Yeah um sure.” he said confusedly. He turned to look at the stranger. He smiled and gave a small wave to him. He wasn’t able to see the stranger’s response though, because he was roughly dragged down the loud hallway. 

“What the hell, Zayn?” he yelled once they stopped.

“What were you doing with Harry Styles?” Zayn asked.

“Who?” Louis asked, confused.

“That guy back there was Harry Styles. He’s not a nice guy Lou.” Zayn says. 

“Oh. I liked him though. I dunno, there was something about him. He seemed...sad almost.” Louis said. “And did you see his art? It was fantastic, Zayn! And he says he’s not an artist. It’s insane, mate! He even asked my name. I was a stranger and he asked my name.”

“Listen Lou, I’m not going to tell you who to hang out with. Just, from what I've heard, he’s not the greatest guy.” Zayn says. “But if you like him that much, go for it. Just be careful Louis.”

“I get it. I will, don’t worry. Now, if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to go home.” he responds.

“Sure. Let’s go.”

***  
“It’s about time you got back. Did you bring food?” Eleanor says, walking out of the bathroom as we walk into the dorm.

“We didn’t know you were hungry.” Zayn responded, glaring at his best friend.

“Dude, I’m always hungry. Plus Niall’s here, and you know how that goes.” Eleanor responds, rolling her eyes at Zayn. 

"Why's Louis all smiley?" Eleanor asks. Causing Louis to bush and look down.

"He met a boy." Zayn informs.

"Shut up!" Louis yells, blushing harder.

Eleanor gasps. "Who?" she asks with a small smirk.

"Harry Styles." Zayn mutters.

Eleanor's smirk slowly fades into a wide smile at that. "He's cute Lou! If I were straight I'd totally try to get with him." she says. "You should ask him out!"

At that his eyes widen. "No! Are you insane? He'd reject me and it would be terrible!" he exclaims.

At the noise, Niall walks in curiously. "Who's going to reject you?" he asks Louis.

"Harry Styles." Zayn and Eleanor say together, and Louis rolls his eyes.

Niall's reaction is like the rest. The three of them go on about how Louis should ask him out, or talk to him, or wink at him in the hallway. Sure, it could end well, but what they don't know is how utterly terrified Louis is of him. He could so much as look at him the wrong way and he'd be scared. So for now, he opts to forgetting Harry Styles existed. Well at least try to...

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry, this is a bit rushed. I promise I'll get better at my writing haha.  
> -grace


End file.
